The present invention relates to an apparatus for removing or extracting cigarettes from a package that encloses the same. The apparatus includes at least one cutting means for cutting open the package with a full cut at right angles to the orientation of the cigarettes. The apparatus also includes a separating station in which the cigarettes are removed from the cut-open package prior to further processing.
During the manufacture of cigarettes, there is frequently encountered the problem of having to reopen a large number of completely filled and packed cigarette packages or boxes. For example, this may be necessary for quality control reasons, in order to be able to use the cigarettes for subsequent tests, or because the cigarettes and/or their packages are defective.
Due to the large production quantities that are involved, the manufacture and packaging of cigarettes is ordinarily carried out completely automatically. There is therefore a need to also be able to mechanically undertake the opening of already completely packed cigarette packages that is necessary for the continuous and routine quality control processes.
Furthermore, the tobacco found in defective cigarette packages should also be conveyed for further processing. Thus, in order to recover the valuable tobacco and return it to the manufacturing process, the individual cigarettes must again be removed from the defective cigarette packages and from those that have been removed from the normal production process.
One apparatus of the aforementioned general type for removing cigarettes from a package is disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 3,386,320, J. R. Pinkham et al. With this known apparatus, the cigarette packages are cut open by a total of three cutting blades, with the first two cuts being effected along the narrow long sides of the cigarette packages, while a third cut is carried out at right angles hereto. This further cut is undertaken as a full cut during which that portion of the cigarette package that contains the filters of the cigarettes is separated from that portion of the package that contains the valuable tobacco. The two parts that are now separated from one another are conveyed to wire mesh drums to undergo a thorough tumbling and subsequent separation of the individual constituents, for example in conformity with their different specific weight.
This known apparatus requires a total of three cutting blades disposed on different shafts in order to be able to cut the cigarette packages open far enough that they can subsequently be subjected to a separating process in tumbling drums. In addition to the increased structural expense for operating three separate cutting blades, this heretofore known apparatus has the drawback that by using tumbling drums, it is not always possible to obtain a clean separation of packaging material on the one hand and cigarettes and cigarette paper on the other hand. This known apparatus cannot reliably prevent constituents of the packaging, such as cardboard, tin foil, or wrapping foil, from passing into the tobacco during the separating process. In addition, the processing of tobacco parts in a tumbling drum together with parts of the cigarette package is very hard on the cut tobacco portions. In particular, the especially valuable long-stranded portions of the cigarette tobacco undergo an undesired reduction in size as a consequence of being processed in this manner, thereby reducing their value for further processing.
Another apparatus for removing cigarettes from packages is disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 4,843,801, Roncero. This apparatus also operates with a total of three cutting means, although in contrast to the aforementioned U.S. Pat. No. 3,386,320, the third blade does not carry out a full cut, but rather provides only a central cut on a flat side of the cigarette package. In a subsequent station, the two halves of the flat side are raised with the aid of compressed air, and the contents of the cigarette package that are exposed in this manner are subsequently removed by pivoting. This heretofore known apparatus has a very complicated construction and has clearly limited possibilities for application. For example, this apparatus is in particular not suitable for the preliminary or simultaneous separation of cigarette filters, which must then be subsequently removed in a further separating station. In addition, the difficult cuts as well as the complicated opening process can be carried out only with packages that are in the form of hard boxes. Furthermore, it is not possible to reliably remove or expose further packaging material, such as tin foil, that is generally disposed within the cigarette boxes. This packaging material would either obstruct the complete emptying of the packages or would be emptied together with the cigarettes, which would lead to the aforementioned separation problems. To avoid the aforementioned problems, this heretofore known apparatus requires a very precise adjustment, as a result of which the apparatus is on the whole very complicated.
It is therefore an object of the present invention to provide an apparatus for removing cigarettes from packages, with the apparatus having a straightforward construction yet enabling a reliable separation between cigarettes on the one hand and the constituents of the packaging on the other hand, without thereby the danger existing that the long-stranded tobacco that is particularly valuable for a further utilization will be reduced in size.